Service providers of mobile communication services and 3rd party vendors of mobile communication devices currently do not have a means to identify if mobile communication devices accessing their networks and applications have legitimate access rights. For example, a service provider operator, such as a provider of email or messaging services or a wireless carrier, may decide that they only want devices manufactured in certain geographies to be allowed to connect to their system.
This desire to authenticate mobile communications devices is partly driven by the fact that providers of mobile communication devices often outsource the manufacturing of the devices to outside agencies, thus losing some control over the integrity and security of the devices. For example, there have been cases where a third party manufacturer had installed wireless modems in credit card readers without the knowledge of the provider of the readers or the end user being aware. Similar infractions can occur in the manufacturing of any type of device, including mobile communications devices. Not only does this type of breach of trust affect the security of the information processed by the devices and networks processing the information provided by the devices, it affects the trust that customers and service providers have in the devices.
Like reference numerals are used in the drawings to denote like elements and features.